Beyond The Music: ‘There is no HR department in the music industry’
“The music industry is broken,” says Oli Wilson, founder of Beyond The Music. But he hopes the event can play a part in helping to fix it.
From rapper Aitch to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, independent entrepreneurs to label executives, hundreds of music artists, experts and politicians came together in Manchester this week to discuss the biggest issues affecting the industry – from AI and the economics of streaming, to struggling grassroots artists and venues, and misogyny behind the scenes.
Now in its second year, Beyond The Music is a conference by day, city festival by night – set up as a co-operative as a place to address the “unprecedented and urgent challenges” facing the industry, but also to showcase up-and-coming talent and support the smaller venues in a city famous for its musical heritage.
Rapper Aitch spoke to Apple Music presenter Dotty for an in conversation session at Beyond The Music. Pic: Ailish O’Leary Austin
Wilson, the founder, says the industry is struggling “across the board” – from the economic model that means “all the money’s staying at the top” in both recorded and live music, to the “imminent existential threat” of artificial intelligence (AI).
All of this feeds into a “mental health crisis”, he told Sky News. “It’s unregulated. There’s no HR department in the music industry. If you’re on tour with a band or if you’re working in a venue and you have mental health issues or perhaps you have issues with other work colleagues around you, who do you go to?”
Wilson, son of Tony Wilson, the man behind Manchester’s famous Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub, says the landscape for new artists is tougher than ever.
“There’s 140,000 new pieces of music being released every single day… coupled with the fact that it’s harder and harder for record labels to take the risks and invest in new artists and careers like they used to. It’s really difficult for grassroot musicians at the moment – and grassroots venues.
“The government are taking action to get a levy on arenas to put back into the grassroots. My belief is that it shouldn’t just be in the live context, it needs to be cross-sector – so record labels and publishing companies also should be putting into the grassroots pipeline.”
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Jen Smith, chief executive of CIISA, spoke on the misogyny panel. Pic: Anna Marsden
In the wake of the previous women and equalities committee’s misogyny in music report, released at the beginning of the year, campaigners also discussed the issues women have faced historically – and still face today.
Jen Smith, the chief executive of the newly formed Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), says the organisation will go some way to bridging the HR gap as described by Wilson.
“There’s a persistent problem with behaviours, there’s a gap in provision for dealing with those behaviours and preventing those behaviours, and CIISA seeks to address that,” she says.
The authority is not an HR body, she adds, but will be the place to call on for confidential anonymous advice and to report any concerning behaviour. “And in serious, the most complex cases, CIISA would investigate. Because we’re a 70% freelance community across the creative industries, you often have these gaps in jurisdiction, if you like, about who is the responsible body.”
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Zelda Perkins, who has campaigned against the use of non-disclosure agreements to prevent people speaking out about abuse in the creative industries, also spoke at the event.
“It’s cultural and it’s systemic,” she says. “But I do think that if legislation is there to protect people and I think if the legal sector also takes responsibility for its role in protecting powerful people to basically do whatever they want, that would make an enormous difference quite quickly.”
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Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of the Music Managers Forum, says it can be a lonely industry for artists and managers, as they are essentially “individual businesses”.
When it comes to making money from streaming and touring, she points out that streaming has “brought the recorded music business back into growth” from piracy taking hold, and that there is money to be made – “but it is very much at the top end”, making it harder for smaller artists and those working with them.
“I’m not saying everything is awful – it’s not, but it’s a hard game,” she says. “It’s a long game and it often doesn’t make money for a really [long time]. So people do it because they love it – and sometimes they get to the stage where they’ve been doing it for long enough that they’ve finally convinced enough people that there is an audience there.”
Lala Hayden was among the artists performing at venues around the city’s Northern Quarter area. Pic: Antonio Ross
Despite the serious issues, there is plenty to celebrate, says Wilson.
“It’s my belief – and this is the great thing about doing it in Manchester – that we can create localised markets that will support artistic careers. I think it is possible to create economies in an area like Greater Manchester, or across the North, which would sustain artists’ careers.”
There’s more music than there ever has been in Manchester and across the UK, he says. “We’ve had over 3,000 submissions to play festival this year. The quality of music is really high and it’s across every genre of music, which is brilliant.”
He hopes getting “key players” together will help bring about new ideas and new ways of working. “We’re here to make change.”
A woman who saw a man falling from an upper tier at Wembley Stadium says a similar incident at an Oasis concert over the weekend in which a fan died makes her wonder whether lessons have been learned.
Stephanie Good, 39, said a man fell during a Euro 2020 match between England and Croatia at Wembley in June 2021.
He landed “right next to where we were” on the “stairwell between rows of seats”, she said.
Named as Jon, he reportedly survived but suffered two broken ankles, a fractured femur and fractured pelvis just before kick-off.
Ms Good said she tried to give feedback but was unable to and felt the “emergency response was really lacking”.
Oasis, meanwhile, said they were “shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of a fan” at their Wembley concert on Saturday.
The man reportedly fell from the stadium’s upper tier.
In his 40s, he was found with “injuries consistent with a fall” and pronounced dead at the scene, the Met Police said.
Ms Good, an NHS manager from east London, said what happened at the Oasis gig was “so similar” to what she witnessed that it made her wonder “were lessons learned”?
Liam and Noel Gallagher on stage for the first Wembley night of the Oasis reunion tour. Pic: Lewis Evans
During that incident, among stadium staff “nobody seemed to know what to do”, she told the Press Association.
She thinks the man may have been trying to attach a flag to the front of a stand and “somehow managed to fall straight over”.
She said: “They (staff) didn’t seem well-trained in terms of how to respond to a really big emergency.
“Their stewards were kind of paralysed a little bit by fear, or they just weren’t well trained and didn’t know how to call for paramedics.
“It was us who were sort of shouting at them that they needed to get some paramedics.
“The first person on the scene wasn’t a stadium paramedic or St John Ambulance. It was an off-duty firefighter who had seen the guy fall and ran down to just try and offer some help.”
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Regarding the follow-up, Ms Good said staff moved spectators to other seats but did not ask for witness statements.
She added: “They didn’t seek any input from people who’d seen the incident or the aftermath of it. They didn’t seem interested in speaking to anybody about it.
“I was a bit concerned, because I felt that the emergency response was really lacking.”
She then tried to get in touch to give feedback, but was unable to do so and did not receive a response to a message on social media, she said.
A Wembley spokesperson said: “Wembley Stadium operates to a very high health and safety standard, fully meeting legal requirements for the safety of spectators and staff, and is certified to and compliant with the ISO 45001 standard.
“We work very closely and collaboratively with all relevant event delivery stakeholders – including event owners, local authorities, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the police – to deliver events to high standards of safety, security and service for everyone attending or working in the venue.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been denied bail ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges.
Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip-hop mogul had failed to show sufficient evidence he is not a flight risk and also cited admissions of previous violence made during his trial.
Combs, 55, has been in prison since his arrest in September last year.
During a two-month trial, jurors heard allegations that he had coerced former girlfriends, including singer and model Cassie Ventura, into having drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers, while he watched and filmed them.
Diddy fell to his knees after the verdict was delivered last month. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
In July, he was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution – but cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking, which carried potential life sentences.
The rapper’s legal team hailed this a “victory” and immediately applied for bail ahead of sentencing, citing his acquittal on the top charges.
After this was denied, they submitted another application last week. Judge Subramanian has now rejected the request again.
In denying the motion for bail, the judge found Combs had failed to show sufficient evidence to counter arguments he is a flight risk, writing in a court filing: “Increasing the amount of the bond or devising additional conditions doesn’t change the calculus given the circumstances and heavy burden of proof that Combs bears.”
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He also found that an argument by the music star’s legal team that the squalor and danger of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), where he is being held, did not warrant release.
“The public outcry concerning these conditions has come from all corners,” the judge wrote. “But as Combs acknowledges, MDC staff has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs, even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate.”
As well as Combs’s bail application, his legal team has also filed a motion calling for him to be acquitted or given a new trial on the prostitution-related charges only.
The judge has not yet responded to this application.
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How the Diddy trial unfolded
How long could Diddy be jailed for?
Combs is due to be sentenced on 3 October and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Discussions on sentencing guidelines which followed the jury’s verdict suggest it is unlikely he will be jailed for this long, with an estimate of around two to five years, taking into account time already served.
However, it is ultimately up to Judge Arun Subramanian to decide the rapper’s punishment.
On Friday, Donald Trump was asked during an interview about a potential pardon for Combs following speculation about the issue.
The president said it was unlikely, adding that the rapper was “very hostile” during his presidential campaign.
Combs, who co-founded Bad Boy Records and launched the career of the late Notorious BIG, was for decades a huge figure in pop culture – a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and business entrepreneur, who presided over an empire ranging from fashion to reality TV.
As well as the criminal conviction, he is also facing several civil lawsuits.
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